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Laser Digital, the digital asset arm backed by Nomura, has become the first newly registered crypto exchange service provider in Japan in four years, the company announced in a statement.
The registration, confirmed August 21, lets Laser Digital operate as a crypto asset exchange service provider under Japan’s Financial Services Agency framework.
Laser Digital first announced plans to seek the license in October 2025. The approval lands a month after Japan reclassified cryptocurrencies as financial instruments in July, a shift that brings digital assets under a regulatory category closer to how the country treats securities, with new rules under that framework expected to take effect in 2027.
The company’s initial focus will be providing liquidity services to domestic virtual asset service providers. Laser Digital has said it plans to expand into offering digital asset trading directly to institutional investors, though it has not set a timeline or detailed the full scope of that offering.
“Japan’s digital assets market is entering a new phase of maturity,” said Jez Mohideen, Laser Digital’s co-founder and chief executive, said in the statement. “As institutional investors increase their interest in this asset class, there remains a need for trusted counterparties and infrastructure designed specifically for their requirements.” Steve Ashley, the company’s co-founder and executive chairman, said sophisticated investors are increasingly looking for access and the quality of infrastructure behind it.
Nomura, Japan’s largest investment bank, backs Laser Digital and has been positioning itself around institutional crypto demand more broadly. The bank co-released a 2026 survey finding that 79 percent of institutional respondents planned to invest in crypto assets within three years, a figure Laser Digital has cited as rationale for building out infrastructure ahead of that demand materializing.
The four-year gap since Japan’s last new exchange registration reflects how tightly the FSA has controlled entry into the market since a string of exchange hacks earlier last decade pushed regulators toward a more conservative licensing posture. Laser Digital clearing that bar, backed by one of the country’s largest financial institutions, suggests Japanese regulators are now willing to widen the field again, but only for entrants with the balance sheet and compliance infrastructure to match Nomura’s.
Source: www.blockhead.co